panthers55

If they are concerned about the line thy have two choices, bring in other guys or cich up who you got or hopefully both. The defense is actually the most surprising. I don't remembering seeing much prevent defense even with the backups. We actually looked more like Pittsburgh than they did last night. Blitzing and mixing things up. I was really happy with Snow. I know he doesnt listen or care about what fans think but he did exactly what I have advocating for since he got here. I guess he thinks he has the talent to run an aggressive scheme. I do hope he emphasizes finishing the rush and blitz because we missed several sacks because the QB was able to get out of the grasp of a defender who had a hand on him.

And what makes you think we won't. It isn't just the words but the negativity and protestations about how bad we are that I find overblown. Paradis had a pretty good year in 2020 and rebounded after the huge injury before 2019. Now suddenly he sucks again in his first half of action? That is my definition of sky is falling. And the problem is it goeson and on for post after post and then if they play better one post possibly admitting they were not as bad as advertised.

It is only concerning if you discount the caliber of who we played, ignore our preseason goals and assume we won't look bettervwhen the season opens. For now I am not concerned. After all as a fan I don't have to worry about any of it since my job isn't on the line. I am excited for the season and with the much improved defense think we could be better than predicted.

The trend I was referring to was the tendency to bash the line and bitch to only find out that we end up better we started and are decent versus a statistically trend.

And they will improve as they gel. Which is why I am not joining your sky is falling hysteria.

Yeah this makes sense if we can protect him from getting poached by other teams.

No gameplanning, still installing the offense, shuffling linemen in and out to get film. Guys playing together in game situations for the first time. You guys seem to forget what preseason is about. It is getting film on guys to make roster and position decisions. Mission accomplished and Tepper got a win against his old team and the fans got something to cheer about. All of these doom and gloom posts are absolutely chicken littleing at this point. Now if it continues into the regular season you might have a point.

Exactly. When your line is ranked 30 out of 32 and you are facing a top defense who has routinely trashed you and broke the best quarterback you have ever had, the bar is pretty low.

Yeah it is if we start off being ranked in the very bottom. Our secondary needed fixing more than the line this year. Moton is going to left tackle and we will be much improved. You are not one to chicken little so your take it a little surprising.

The talent might drop.off somewhat but the scheme is the same and that is what we got experience against which is one of the best in the league. We also mixed up our line as we went and some of those guys starting for our line might end up being backups so no it was a good test. You just went on a rant trashing the line and won't give any concessions so no need to go on and in with you. As I showed you in another post we always end up.middle of the pack and this year will be the same. But you can chicken little all you want...

Not at all. Go back and watching any of the last several years when we played Pittsburgh in the preseason or regular season. Our line would look like a sieve and the Steelers would have a party in our back field. And how many times have we made rookies and backups look awesome. I was hoping to avoid a disaster so yeah we looked much better than I expected.

This.

I was watching a preseason game against a top defense bringing pressure against a starting offense playing their first extended action. They got pressure because they blitzed most plays bringing 5 or 6. Overall I thought we did better than I expected honestly. Surely not enough for all the hysteria.

No coffee and early Saturday morning and in the middle of discussing offensive line issues when that popped up. Totally missed the point. It happens. Carry on.....

Seems about as mature and well thought out as this thread. Good job...

The offensive line didn't get mauled all night and improved as they played together. They also were blitzed on every play against a top 3 defense last year so I think your analysis is overblown and premature.

You do know that most teams use their linebackers to rush as well as occasionally mix things up dropping into coverage to confuse the offensive blocking protections and mix up the pass rush....

And I can argue that the Oline was the least of our issues with Cam. How about no receivers to throw to? How about poor gameplanning in the Super Bowl. How about poor officiating that allowed head hunting on Cam which has largely been reversed. We played 3 top 10 defenses that all brought pressure and blitzes which is exactly what we wanted this preseason. Sure we had some struggles particularly early but this was the only preseason most of the starters had and they had little time together with all the new pieces. We could go back all the way to 2011 and I bet the trend would continue. Our O line is middling and has been since Gross left. It isn't a strength but isn't the huge problem and cause of all our woes as you seem to suggest. And after going against this D line every day will only get better.

Given the wide receivers in our division it is Horn. Our O line gets criticized every year yet we end up middle of the pack. Whether it is Moton or Erving we will be okay this year. Would I have liked Slater? Sure but not instead of Horn who if we didn't draft him would be playing in New Orleans against us.

Seems every year we bitch about the O line yet they tend to get ranked in the middle most years. Using pff for comparison. 2020 -19th 2019- 18th 2018- 17th You see the theme. So now we are ranked 30th heading into the season. My prediction is we end up better than 30th perhaps in the high teens once again. So can we stop bitching about how awful they are. With no gameplanning they played 3 top 10 defenses and looked OK. Not good but better than all of this bitching would suggest.

I thought Darnold and the offense improved over the course of the first half. Blitzburgh brought pressure on most plays which pressured the defense and the backs. I thought they all got over their jitters and played well as a group. The line got better as well as they figured out their protections which they normally do with gameplanning. Sure we got work to do but this was a top 3 defense so their depth should have still been pretty good and their scheme stayed the same.

The line wasn't that bad given all the blitzing the steers were doing backups or not. This was a top 3 defense in 2020 so of course we struggled with no gameplanning to neutralize the blitz. But I thought the backs picked up blitzes and as the game progressed the guys started sorting things out. Were there some wiffs and misses? Did we leave points on the board? Yep. Of course we have lots of work to do but it wasn't as bad as many here are suggesting.

The Steelers were a top 3 defense so even their depth is good and they blitzed on just about every play bringing 5 and 6. I though the o line got better after the first 2 series and played well. Once the starting 5 gets settled I expect them to play middle of the pack which is all Darnold needs given what he is used to having. He had to be excited.

The Steelers pressured on every down and often brought 5 or even 6. I thought the O line did better as they worked out their protections over the first couple of series. I was actually encouraged by the fact that we faced 3 top 10 defenses and the oline got tons of work figuring things out. Once we get our starting five set I think the O line will be better than projected at 31 this year. I think middle of the pack and that would be a huge upgrade for Darnold.

I thought he did better as he got comfortable. That last drive was very good and he looked very comfortable with Robby and DJ. I thought he did a good job handling the pressure.